affirmative action

Related to affirmative action: Affirmative Action Plan

affirmative action

A policy that promotes the recruitment or advancement of individuals from specific groups that have been the target of discrimination (as relates to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, etc.) so as to create a more diverse environment, especially as a means to counter discrimination against those groups. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. While some people view affirmative action as an unfair hiring method, the company stands by it as a useful means of promoting diversity.
See also: action, affirmative
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • affirmative
  • open doors
  • open some doors
  • open a few doors
  • in fact
  • open a few doors for (one)
  • network
  • old-boy network, the
  • the old boy network
  • the old-boy network
References in periodicals archive
Kennedy started to lay the groundwork for affirmative action in 1961 when he signed an executive order instructing government agencies to "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin."
While all racial and gender groups' support for affirmative action is higher for programs aimed at women than those aimed at minorities, differences in support for the two programs vary by subgroup.
Less Than Half of Republicans Support Affirmative Action for Minorities
Despite the Fisher case upholding race-based affirmative action, the court stated that a public university must exhaust all nonracial methods for promoting diversity and only turn to race-conscious policies after finding that "no workable race-neutral alternative would produce the educational benefits of diversity," thus ensuring that an admission policy is narrowly tailored to the goal of diversity.
In the aftermath of the court's Schuette decision, those committed to inclusive and democratic education and societies are now obligated to first explore "race-neutral" alternatives such as "pipeline" projects that seek to mentor younger students in preparation for their application to universities, socioeconomic-based affirmative action, and other polices using proxies for race-based stratification.
of a personal letter, the former Clinton administration official informs her twin 6-year-old sons that she believes they do not "need or deserve affirmative action" that will consider their race as a factor in college admissions.
In Egypt, where quota systems and affirmative action policies are loosely applied, the situation is much different.
Opponents see the current case as an opportunity to end or curb affirmative action, which they consider reverse discrimination.
Over the years, affirmative action has been truncated by judicial rulings and banned by voters in some states.
Affirmative action efforts are weakened by the new-age movement towards diversity and inclusion.
Yuill writes from the perspective of one who believes that scholars focusing on the implementation and expansion of affirmative action programs have emphasized the civil rights movement, the presidency of Lyndon B.
Affirmative action as a policy initiative is politically controversial; it has spawned a significant amount of scholarship from both opponents and proponents.
The current setup of affirmative action fails to address this issue, however.
A number of different explanations have been offered for this ambivalent opposition to affirmative action among whites.
Barack Obama, National Urban League President Marc Morial, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Martin Luther King III lent their support to local affirmative action advocates to fight the ban.